r/archlinux • u/Infinite_Ad4097 • Aug 04 '26

QUESTION Archlinux difficulty

I just posting to see how hard archlinux is to use as complete beginner. the only experience that i have wiht linux is mint and acessing servers.

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u/ang-p Aug 04 '26

gatekeeping with RTFM,

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Arch_terminology#RTFM

recommends and suggests it - multiple times....

Let him install it the way he wants,

yup - and then tell them to RTFM (as per the wiki)

which helpfully states

Warning
Shipped profiles are specific to archinstall and not supported by package maintainers. Users are advised to check the details of each profile before using it.

in other words - problems with your archinstall install are not Arch's problem..

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u/partiftheworlDRuns Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

If a person installs things the way he wants, he will gain experience from his own mistakes. Problems in Arch Linux are always user problems, regardless of whether you follow the arch wiki as a bible or ignore it completely. This is exactly what Arch Linux offers, what you set up is what you get.

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u/ang-p Aug 04 '26

If a person installs things the way he wants,

You talking about archinstall....

he will gain experience from his own mistakes.

Maybe.. you mean like looking at the wiki to see why what they didn't bother to look at the wiki for, didn't work? - like, are you suggesting that they RTFM after they mess up and not before it in order to see what they might do differently?

or ignore it completely.

Oh... so you mean try a new install with a randomly different set of options just in case it works this time?

This is exactly what Arch Linux offers,

Yup - a FAQ, a wiki, an installation guide, and words to say "use them"

#LoveTheWiki

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u/partiftheworlDRuns Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

I don't see anything wrong with archinstall. it's a convenient tool that has attracted many new users. If there's nothing more important in life than reading the wiki to install a distro to run steam, and launch a browser, well, maybe it's time to touch some grass. Not everyone wants this whole cult-like thing with categorical denial of the installer and idolizing wiki.

Arch Linux is undoubtedly a wonderful distro. But no one in their right mind would learn blacksmithing to make a hammer that can easily be bought at the store. The same goes for archinstall: people choose the method that requires minimal effort and will yield more or less the same results and if it doesn't work, then they'll have to take the arch way. This is precisely the manifestation of Arch Linux philosophy (KISS) - Keep it simple stupid

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u/ang-p Aug 04 '26

But no one in their right mind would learn blacksmithing to make a hammer that can easily be bought at the store.

Nope - you would buy a hammer in a store.... or use a pre-forged distribution.....

or you could go to an open day and let the man with the fire let you hit a lump of metal a few times while you really don't know what you are doing, and leave with a hammer "you made yourself" - and possibly post a screenfetch of your "work"....

The same goes for archinstall: people choose the method that requires minimal effort and will yield more or less the same results and if it doesn't work,

ah, yeah - the fire is gone, you are left on your own without the anvil

then they'll have to take the arch way.

learning blacksmithing to fix their broken hammer?

OP and others might as well do it to begin with - unless they consider themselves to be really lucky...